Karachi, August 18, 2015 (PPI-OT):Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah expressing displeasure on the investigation and prosecution of the cases, particularly under trial in ATC courts has decided to constitute a four member high power committee to keep an eye on the performance of each and every case in the court.

He took this decision while presiding over a meeting to review performance of prosecution and progress of investigation here at CM House today. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Chief Minister’s advisor on Law Murtaza Wahab, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, Secretary Home Mukhtiar Soomro, Prosecutor General Sindh, Secretary law and others.

Chief Secretary Siddique Memon briefing the meeting said that in the month of June 2015, all 19 ATC disposed of 101 cases, of them 77 were acquitted and 24 were convicted . “The shows 23.7 percent conviction ratio,” he said.

He said that in all the 27 district courts 2075 cases were disposed of in the month of June 20015, of them acquittal was granted in 1,472 cases and conviction in 603 cases. “This shows 29.6 percent conviction ratio,” he concluded.

The chief secretary said that there are 1618 cases pending in four Anti-Corruption Courts. They disposed of eight cases in June 2015 and granted acquittal in seven cases and conviction in one case. The acquittal ratio comes to 12.5percent.

The chief minister expressed his displeasure on the performance of prosecution and investigation. “This cannot be tolerated. The culprits are arrested after a lot of hard work and sacrifices of the police, Rangers and other agencies but the poor investigation and prosecution wash away the entire exercises,” he said.

He directed the IG police to post most senior and seasoned policemen in the investigation. ‘This is a serious business, and it cannot be left at the mercy of inefficient and unwilling workers. Onward action would be taken against the concerned SHOs and IOs if a case of terrorist nature is lost in the court of law,” he said categorically.

IG Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali said that he had posted 23 most experienced inspectors in Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) to investigate terrorist cases. ‘This move is bound to produce good results,” he said.

The chief minister directed the Prosecutor General to appoint more prosecutors purely on merit basis. “I would given them additional allowances and also grant them additional salary as a reward when they would win case,” he said and ordered to constitute a four member committee comprising Home Secretary Mukhtiar Soomro, Prosecutor General Sher Mohammad Shaikh, Secretary Law and a DIG to bbe nominated by IG Police to hold monthly meetings to monitor performance of prosecution and investigation.

Chief Minister’s advisor Murtaza Wahab said that most of the prosecutors are not efficient. “Their performance in the courts is very poor,” he said. On this the chief minister directed Mr Murtaza to evaluate the performance of each and every prosecutor on monthly basis and take action against those who fail to perform.

On the suggestion of Home Secretary Mukhtiar Soomro the chief minister ordered that regular meetings between the SSP Investigation and Prosecutor General must be held to address the investigation and prosecution issues.

The chief minister also expressed his displeasure on the release of the accused allegedly involved in murder of Professor Waheeduddin. “This was also a weakness of the investigation and prosecution,” he said.